“They both felt the moment that their magick clicked into place. The spark at the base of the fire stick grabbed ahold of the moss. The circle became filled with the presence of spirits. Muar devoted his energies to keepin the flame going, adding small twigs gradually as the fire grew stronger. Autakla began to sing praise to all the Beings gathered there.
Wind of the Air, spirits of the rising sun, Welcome!
Rocks of the Ancestors, bones of the earth, Welcome!
Water of river and sea, blood of creation, Welcome!
Fire of life, light in the darkness, Welcome!
Spirits of place, Spirits of creatures, Spirits of the plants and trees, Welcome!
Mother of life, Mother of all, Mother of the beginning of time, Welcome!
Later, much later, they would compare notes on their experience of that ceremony. It may have lasted just a few moments. It may have lasted three days. They were never very sure. They both saw and heard things that were truly beyond description, even though they tried to explain it to one another. They were shown the past, generations and generations back, and saw how their ancestors had built their homes and customs. They saw the origin of how Selkies came into being, with the explosion of eart and sea that created new creatures and gave the People the connection to the ocean that remained to this day.”
The Selkies live between the Sea and the Land, and young Autakla is destined to join them in the ocean. But she fears her fate. She breaks free of her family traditions and looks to find her place even as she hears the song of the salt water in her veins. Fierce storms and even fiercer magical creatures stand in her way as she struggles to discover who she truly is.
Autakla and her cousin Muar travel with the Caribou People toward the Arctic Circle, and she learns the ways of Reindeer Mother even as she must reply to the call of Seal Woman, the Goddess of her people. Will Autakla take her place in her lineage and make the transformation to Selkie?
